A Minneapolis consulting firm will conduct a public survey to measure support for a local-option sales tax for lake cleanup, the Albert Lea city council decided Monday.

But the decision had some strong opposition. The cost, the timing and the mood of the state legislature had many worried about taking the issue to the public so soon.

Paul Overgaard, a member of the recently formed watershed board, spoke to the council as an &uot;individual&uot; and &uot;not as a member of the board,&uot; and pressured the council to wait on the survey because the public doesn’t have all the information it should on the lakes.

&uot;I believe an open survey at this time is premature,&uot; Overgaard told the council. &uot;You can’t sell anything out of an empty wagon.&uot;

The survey will measure public opinion on a half-percent sales tax to raise money to dredge Albert Lea Lake. The cost of the dredging, according to a bid from a company which has dredged many Minnesota lakes, could be between $20 and $40 million. The process of dredging, and the tax, would be spread out over a 10- to 15-year period.

In order to levy the tax, the city would have to get permission from the state legislature and pass a citywide referendum. Overgaard argued that if a public survey came back with a strong negative reaction, the legislature wouldn’t give the city the tax option.

&uot;A public survey that said ‘no’ would pretty much close the door on that objective,&uot; he said.

Overgaard said the survey would be a waste of money.

&uot;The referendum will be the public survey,&uot; he said.

Overgaard asked that the survey at least be moved back two months to let the city, county, chamber of commerce, convention and visitor’s bureau and watershed leaders get together for a meeting on synchronizing the proper steps toward making a lake plan work.

&uot;We need to build a consensus,&uot; he said.

He also said that in that time, the public could also be educated on the water issues.

If those things were to line up, he said, the city could ask the legislature for the option of a sales tax by January of 2004.

Don Sorenson, another watershed board member who also spoke as an &uot;individual,&uot; added that the money spent on the survey would be better spent on a facilitator for public meetings between the governmental and organizational entities.

But the survey had its proponents as well.

Tony Trow, of Albert Lea, said the council needed to take action as soon as they could on the survey. &uot;We need to get an idea for how the public is feeling about this,&uot; he said.

The majority of the city council agreed.

In a 6-1 vote, with Mayor Jean Eaton voting against, they voted to hire Minneapolis-based Cincinnatus Inc. to conduct the survey. Eaton said she thinks the city should wait a few months to conduct the study.

Cincinnatus will charge $21,525 for their survey. The study will be conducted through focus groups as well as through a telephone survey. After the council’s decision to hire the company, the research will begin as soon as possible.

In other city council news:

-An engineering study will redesign the Hatch Bridge, a section of Lakeview Boulevard under which Fountain Lake connects to Bancroft Bay, to allow more room for boaters to cross between the two bodies of water. The study, which is being done by Bolton and Menk, Inc. of Mankato, will cost the city $17,400. Construction would begin in 2004.

(Contact Peter Cox at peter.cox @albertleatribune.com or 379-3439.)